Essay about Pagan Christmas

Imagine if there were no Christmas trees on Christmas. How would it feel? Till this day in almost every American household there is at least one Christmas tree. The Christmas tree is one of the symbols and early traditions from the pagans that early Roman Catholics adopted. Although, the Roman Catholic Church perceived sinful and unacceptable some of the pagan traditions such as the value and behavior that the Anglo-Saxons had towards their cattle and how they sacrificed them to their idols. The church had to synchronize and blend some pagan traditions so they could influence their new strategy to evangelize and attract the heathens.

Religions across the globe have their own distinctive rites and rituals, idols, traditions, and values. Each have in common a desire to explain something unexplainable by common wisdom, or attributing some aspect of life to some higher power. Many religions have at their heart etiological stories, which explain some sort of natural phenomenon through the physical manifestation of their deity or deities. From high winds and thunderstorms to love, fertility, and the sun, such religions focus on the physical world in this life. Other religions try to explain the "next" life or the afterlife. These religions usually give a moral code to live by, with stricter adherence to this code offering a better afterlife.

"Father Christmas goes back in any event to the extent the seventeenth century in Britain, and pictures of him make due from that time, depicting him as an all-around fed whiskery man wearing a long, green, hide lined robe. He embodied the soul of optimism at Christmas" (Wikipedia-Santa). Additionally Christmas is the occasion to unite families for "Christmas traditions include: present giving and fun from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and philanthropy from the Roman New Year; and Yule logs and different sustenance from Germanic dining experiences." Christmas really is the occasion of giving and family

Santa Claus must exist. How else would you describe this change in the way humans interact during these otherwise dreary winter months? Santa Claus is the catalyst of human goodness, sparking within us a genuine care for our neighbor, bringing us together for this wonderful season. Think of a world without Santa Claus!

Traditions, that every Christian adheres to were also introduced and popularized by German immigrants. Among them, the Christmas tree, gift-giving Santa Claus, and even the Easter Bunny (Library of Congress, n.d.)

There is no doubt that Christmas is a religious event but nowadays Christmas becomes more commercialized, as it has been defined as a high consumption season because the gifts giving culture becomes the most important part of Christmas and the consumers want to please their children

Christmas can have many meaning to different people depending on how they interpret it. However, if looking at the Christian aspect of it. The

The first tradition that I want to talk about is the Christmas tree. Every year, Iand my family go into the bush to get a tree. We find one that looks good and chop it down and use the top. It’is a lovely tradition. The history of the Christmas tree is really vast and substantial. A look at the history of the tree only shows how extensive this history actually is. According to History.com Christmas trees used to

We all know what Christmas is. At least I hope so. You may not celebrate it, but you know what it is. Some have Hanukkah and others have Kwanzaa. Hanukkah is for the Jews who celebrate the victory of the Maccabees over the larger Syrian army. While with Kwanzaa, people light a kinara and give gifts to each other. This takes place over seven days. Isn't that nice? Seven days of celebration! Christmas however… Is a single day. With Christmas, the children believe in a big, old, jolly man in a red suit called “Santa Clause”. On Christmas night he comes down your chimney, leaves presents and take the milk and cookies. For one thing, that's breaking and entering and for a second thing, he leaves unknown gifts?! You don't know whats in there! It

Christmas As times changed in the 1800s’ of England, Christmas provided as an anchor to bring familiarity and joy into the lives of people. Christmas had become a festival based off of family and friendship, with charity towards others. Though deceiving, religion was not actually the strongest element of the holiday. Christmas began to develope this way, because of the Victorians stage, and the Medieval periods.

From the time period 1558-1829 Roman Catholics were prohibited from practicing their faith in public. “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is important to the Roman Catholics because it has a hidden religious meaning behind it. Saying this, it does not only have a hidden meaning but it also portrays a surface meaning as well. The surface meaning goes along with what the actual words in the song say. On the other hand, the religious meaning hides a code word for a religious reality.

“One concern about Christmas comes from Christians who fear that the spiritual meanings of the season get lost in the midst of so many cultural symbols and activities” (Forbes, 2007, p. 1905). My number one concern has been and will continue to be the lack of spirituality and focus on Christ during the season, however,

Christmas is the annual festival celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th December, at least that is what it began as initially. Since it has expanded into an international phenomenon for consumption, taking priority over our everyday practices of life (Michel De Certeau, 1980). Our time we spend divided between work and leisure in accordance to the codes and conventions of society shifts, Christmas derails these expectations. Yet surprisingly Christmas gains little attention in terms of social research, despite the fact that it can be explored diversely. The inquiry ‘What is Christmas?’ links to multiple aspects of social research. The aspects of Christmas can be subdivided into the following; religion, commercialism, gift-giving, social relationships, sensualism and mythology. This essay will analyse these fundamentals of Christmas through both psychological and sociological perspectives, as the theories among these two social sciences are best suited to the elements which make up Christmas itself.

Christmas is my favorite holiday of the year. I love seeing the shinny Christmas lights that decorates my street and the sound of fresh fallen snow on the ground. Christmas reminds me of family, the laughter and loved we shared, and the gifts we gave to each other. My house on Christmas became the center of my joy.

Twas the night before Christmas, pale and yellow moonlight illuminated a house deep in the woods. Tall pine trees surrounded the house, like giants pointing at the inky black sky. Flurries of snowflakes swirled in a hurry around the house. The house stood alone and abandoned, adorned with Christmas lights, but not the ones you would see on any ordinary house. Some lights were fading, once bright and colorful but now a former shell of what they once been. Others burned out in a spark while the ones left were shattered. The front door was decorated with a rug that could be mistaken as an animal. The tree inside the house was not in the most pristine condition, either. The tree slumped in a dark corner. The top of the tree stretched out like bony fingers grasping at the air. The shiny, glinting ornaments that once fashioned the tree were now shattered. The wallpaper plastered to the wall was now peeling off, like it was rotting. The paint on anything on the house was now faded and chipping away. Stale air filled with dust occupied the house. The house was indeed creepy and not in the most pristine condition. Even more mysterious, the house would only ever appear on the night of Christmas Eve. Despite this, many local teenagers and explorers were drawn to the house. Anyone who was brave enough or dumb enough would enter and see the house in its deteriorated state. One Christmas Eve night many years ago, an explorer had stumbled across the house. He had been in the snow for what